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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26057089">futures found in bookstores</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitsunerei88/pseuds/kitsunerei88'>kitsunerei88</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Castle (TV 2009), Young Wizards - Diane Duane</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Fusion, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Crossovers &amp; Fandom Fusions, Gen, I Tried, Who's A Wizard Now?, no beta we die like men</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 10:53:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,415</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26057089</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitsunerei88/pseuds/kitsunerei88</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Castles have always found themselves in bookstores, and Alexis is no different. </p><p>Or: Alexis Castle finds a book, or maybe the book finds her.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Crossworks 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>futures found in bookstores</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gray_Cardinal/gifts">Gray Cardinal (Gray_Cardinal)</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Alexis ducked into an out of the way aisle in the bookstore. Gran was already having a fit—the book-signing didn’t start for another hour, but the line-up outside the bookstore was barely more than a handful of people. The Derrick Storm books had always drawn a crowd, especially in the last few books, but no one knew Nikki Heat yet. Gran’s loud worries would soon be put to rest, Dad was sure, but the process to getting there was wearying.</p><p>She made her way into the young adult fiction section. It was a strange section—what was a <em>young adult</em> book supposed to be, anyway? She didn’t think that they were a far cry from some of the children’s fantasy fiction that had been published for years before; arguably, she’d even say that some series, like Patricia C. Wrede’s <em>Enchanted Forest Chronicles</em>, carried more sophisticated themes than the new supposed young adult fiction novels. And a better inversion of classic tropes.</p><p>She ran one finger down the long spines anyway. Vampires were the new big thing in young adult fiction, <em>no, thank you, Twilight</em>, and there was a side of werewolves. Quite a lot of magic, <em>thank you, Harry Potter, </em>but she wasn’t in the mood for it. She wasn’t in the mood for anything in particular, actually—it was more that she wanted to be with the books, surrounded by the smell of new pages and ink.</p><p>Bookstores were where the Castles found themselves—it was where Dad’s books were sold now, but Alexis had been surrounded by books her whole life. Their penthouse was stuffed full of books, and libraries had been a prominent part of her earliest memories. When she was older, there were Saturday afternoon trips to the second-hand bookshops, where Dad would look for research materials while she poked through the tiny, often dusty children’s book sections. If he came home with books, and he always did, Alexis always came home with new books too.</p><p>Her fingernail got caught on a book, and she winced, taking another look. <em>So You Want To Be A Wizard</em>, the spine read, and she frowned.</p><p>It didn’t fit in with the books around it. It was thin, for one—only a third the size of any of the books that surrounded it, and it wasn’t as <em>flashy</em>, for lack of a better word. The title was Times New Roman, pressed gold on moss-green fake leather, without the usual smooth book covers that she was used to. She tugged it out—the title on the cover was completely different, saying only <em>A Guide to Errantry</em>.</p><p>She looked around. It would be some time yet before Dad’s signing started, and by then he’d no doubt be mobbed. No one would notice if she just sat down and read through the first few pages, and she’d be ready to help as soon as they called for her. Gran would yell for her, no doubt about it, and she had time.</p><p>She sat down and started reading.</p><hr/><p>“Hey, kiddo, you ready to go?”</p><p>The sound drifted to her as if she were underwater, garbled and strange. Her eyes were grainy, as if she had been staring in concentration for far too long, and she blinked as she felt someone touch her shoulder. A quick look showed that it was dark, and her body was stiff as if she had been reading for hours. She <em>had</em> been reading for hours—she couldn’t have read as much as she had had without hours passing, and yet—</p><p>When she looked down at the book, it was still thin in her lap, and she was barely a halfway through it. And yet, she knew she had read far more than the mere quarter-inch of pages suggested.</p><p>“What time is it?” she asked, jolting upright. “Oh my god, Dad’s signing!”</p><p>Gran laughed, holding up a hand to help her upright. “You were so lost in your book that your father said to leave you be—he said it’s been far too long since he’s seen you so engrossed in a novel. And the signing was fine. Everyone crowded in when it opened, wouldn’t you know it? So, we won’t be in the poorhouse anytime soon, and I’m guessing you’ll want to take that book home?”</p><p>Alexis laughed sheepishly. “Yeah, I—” she looked down at the mysterious book. If it was a young adult novel, it was like none she had ever read before. There wasn’t a plot, so much as there was—a boundless fountain of information. Mythology, history, a boundless encyclopaedia of a world. The book should have been fifty times the size, and yet she hadn’t even made a dent in it. “Yeah, I’ll take it.”</p><p>Later that night, she settled back on her bed, staring at the deceptive-looking book, with the mismatched title and gold letters on moss-green faux-leather. She was almost fifteen years old, and she was really too old to fall for this sort of thing. But, maybe, within her there was a part of her that was still disappointed at never receiving her Hogwarts letter at eleven, and there was the fact that she had lost an entire afternoon and evening reading the book that <em>never seemed to end</em>. She had turned pages that very clearly weren’t <em>there</em>, because if she had she would be done the book, and—</p><p>And no one would hear her anyway.</p><p>She grabbed the book, flipping it open, and the pages fell exactly to the one she wanted. A chill ran over her shoulders and down her back, but before she could have second thoughts, she started reading. “In Life’s name, and for Life’s sake, I say that I will use the Art for nothing but the service of that Life. I will guard growth and ease pain. I will fight to preserve what grows and lives well in its own way; and I will change no object or creature unless its growth and life, or that of the system of which it is part, are threatened. To these ends, in the practice of my Art, I will put aside fear for courage, and death for life, when it is right to do so— ‘til Universe’s end.”</p><p>The silence that closed around her was heavy, as if the room was breathing with her, as if something in the world had stopped to listen. She breathed, in and out, the sound seemingly loud, and the feeling lasted for a minute until it drained away. For a moment, she felt very silly.</p><p>And then book sagged in her hands, pulling her eyes downwards, and she saw that the book had shifted to a new table of contents, which included headings she had never seen before. <em>The Speech</em>, read the first chapter title, then <em>Preliminary Exercises</em>, then a long, long list of what appeared to be different classes and subclasses of spells. Rather than an encyclopaedia, she now thought that she was looking at a <em>textbook</em>.</p><p>A <em>magical</em> textbook.</p><p>She started reading.</p><hr/><p>Three weeks later, she stood at the gates at Grand Central Station. Not the turnstiles for the subway, nor for any of the other train lines, but the <em>world</em> gates, tucked in an out of the way corner away from the crowds. She could just see the pucker in the air, a distortion that shifted weirdly in the light, and she leaned forward to get a better look.</p><p>The past few weeks were packed full of studying, and the few spells she tried so far seemed to work. She hadn’t blown anything up, but neither had she done anything very impressive. She was curious, and another world—</p><p>What would another world look like?</p><p>(Are you going through?) A voice yowled behind her, getting her attention. Alexis whipped around, her eyes catching on a black cat with a white bib. (New around here, aren’t you? I’m Rhiow—head of the team in charge of the Grand Central gates.)</p><p>(Alexis,) Alexis replied, crouching down to see the cat better. (And yes—yes, I think I will.)</p><p>(Better hurry, then,) the cat said, tilting her head towards the gates. (They’ve been acting funny these days, it’s all the construction. Go on. Have a good trip! It should be all fixed when you get back.)</p><p>(I will!) Alexis smiled, straightened, and turned back to the gate.</p><p>It was only one step forward, and one spell.</p><p>But it would be a step to a whole new future.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Gray_Cardinal: I was really excited to read your fandoms, because I love Castle and I love Young Wizards and I'm not sure it would have occurred to me to stick them together! I'm not sure I was able to do the idea justice--in fact, I'm pretty sure I didn't... but I didn't have a Lone Power plot up my sleeve. :( I hope you enjoyed anyway!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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